Chapter 1. What's wrong with Marcus?

Alec Volturi was starring at the stars in the pitch black night sky of Volterra. He was perched on a wooden beam in one of the towers of the castle that was overlooking the city. It was a late summer evening and the ancient red sandstone walls were still radiating the heat of the day. Alec was wearing his black cloak lined with red silk. It's fabric that of lighter cotton. Not that the material would have mattered, because Vampires were unaffected by the change of temperature and he could have worn his "winter wool cloak". But Alec was a young man fond of keeping some of his human habits and rituals. Even though he could not feel the change of the temperature anymore, he still liked the ritual of getting dressed for summer in some ways.

"A stupid human habit", as Caius would call it, Alec thought to himself and chuckled. But Alec thought,Caius was wearing a red scarf with his attire, when he was in the throne room and Alec could not help but wonder about his masters fashion sense. After all, it was well known ,that Vampires were not prone to sore throats, Alec thought wickedly.

His right hand was playing absentmindedly with the silver buttons of his cloak that were the fastenings for his cloak . They were glistening in the moonlight sitting atop of his broad chest.

His back ,leaning against another beam and his right leg dangling lazily of the beam he was sitting at, while his eyes were scanning the almost empty streets underneath him.

They were roaming over the castle walls that were his part to watch. Alec took a deep unnecessary breath and started sniffing the air. He could smell the scent of roses, lavender and those of different flowers from the castle gardens. It had a certain moist air swirling with it and in his mind Alec could see Marcus, standing in the garden, watering his flowers. Alec´s lips morphed into a smile. This was Marcus habit, to water the plants at midnight during the hot summer months.

Alex's mind was repeating a scene that occurred earlier during the day ,in the throne room.

"What has you in this contemplative mood brother?", asked the vampire with the long raven black hair and the expensive looking suit that was sitting on his throne like chair, turning a questioning face toward his fair haired brother.

Caius, the fair haired vampire with the red scarf, was showing his usual trademark scowl and an angry blaze in his burgundy red eyes. He was sitting on a similar chair, his right leg folded over his left and the fingers of his left hand were drumming impatiently against the heel of his black boots.

His whole posture seemed to be tense and resembled that of a lion, ready to pounce on his prey. He was starring toward the door, but not actually looking at it. After what seemed to be an eternity by human standards, he turned his head slowly towards his brother and his eyes still in deep thought, locked with Aro´s.

"Did you hear about this encounter of Marcus and this little human, today in the public library of Volterra? "he asked his voice spitting with anger and disgust.

"I looked into Demitris mind when they returned from their little excursion today, but I fail to see anything interesting about this meeting. It looked like Marcus was just talking to the women about the book of famous painters from the Volterra area. "Aro answered, already bored with the subject.

"She asked Marcus about the necklace, Caius yelled at him, "he should have killed her and be done with it".

"Caius, brother," Aro scolded, "you make too much of this. Who is going to listen to a little human and her theories over a necklace that can be found on…"

The throne room doors flew open with a loud crash before Aro could finish his sentence and they slammed into the walls with force.

All the guards ,including Alec ,took on a watchful stance as Marcus, the third of the Volturi leaders flitted into the room.

He did not acknowledged his brothers, but walked up to the dais and took his seat next to Aro`s. His face was as emotionless and as unreadable as ever, if not for the powerful entrance into the throne room, nobody would have guessed that something was amiss with him.

He propped his right elbow onto the armrest of his throne and placed his chin into his palm, and was starring at the floor, not acknowledging anybody in the room.

Caius voice was the first to break the stunned silence after Marcus loud entrance into the throne room.

"Well brother, it is so nice of you to finally join us" he snapped with a voice sharp like a whip and a deepening scowl on his face. His bloodred eyes where starring at Marcus,waiting to get a reaction out of him. But Marcus was not ready to acknowledge his brothers comment, or get riled by his aggressiveness .Instead he was still sitting like a marble statue, a beautiful one that is, starring still at the floor.

At this moment, Felix huge figure flitted into the throne room, announcing visitors, a human and a vampire.

Aro stepped of the last step of the dais and walked towards the new guest`s. His face gleeful and with his usual gesture he clapped his hands together in an anticipatory way. "Oh, what a pleasant surprise, it is young Isabella Swan and Garret! What an honor to meet you both here at our home. Your visit is unexpected but never the less welcome." He stepped towards the girl and grabbed her hand and held it between his with a gentle grip , well knowing that he could not read any of her thoughts, but trying anyways, just to assure himself.

But before he could utter another word, he heard Marcus who spoke in his raspy voice but so low that only the vampires could hear him, and hear him, they did.

"Ah yes Isabella Swan,here comes the human waterworks. I never met any human that can cry more than her. She is annoying. "he muttered, shaking his head but still starring onto the floor.

Aro slowly turned around,and was starring at his brother with furrowed brows surprised over his sudden outburst. He knew ,all three of them had to convene in his office pretty soon, because Caius would not let go of the library matter and he could read in Marcus aggressive stance, that he got ready for a fight. He sighed and turned his attention back to Garret and Isabella.

"Garret, what can we do for you?" Aro asked the vampire before him. He very well knew he simply could reach for his hand and just scan through his thoughts, but even Aro sometimes got bored of using his gift on every occasion. And, he often thought to himself, that this was a way to keep some of his sanity, even though a lot of people around him would answer that he had already lost it, he chuckled to himself.

Garret, who had his right arm wrapped around Isabella's waist, looked at Marcus with a scowl and then returned his attention back to Aro again. He was lightly shifting his weight from one foot to the other and after an unnecessary harrumph ,started to speak.

"I don´t know if the three kings heard about the situation in the Olympic coven?" He questioned Aro and after nobody commented on his question he went on.

"Bella here" and he looked down at the girl that was tucked closely to his side, "was the girlfriend of one of Carlyle's son´s "Garret explained. This statement was met with some gasp´s from the vampires in the room and some murmured comments. Aro, a stony expression on his face, held his hands up to silence the vampires in the room. He nodded toward Garret and said "Go on my son, those are quite interesting news you share with us, tell us about the whole story", his face still resembling the expression of a marble statue.

So Garret went on with his story. "Bella, was Edward Cullen's Girlfriend. They met in Forks where they went to the same High School. Bella here figured out on her own, that the Cullen's are vampires, by connecting the stories of the local Native American Tribe, the Quileute's and her own observations about the Cullen's. She and Edward came together and she also got introduced to the rest of the coven, or the family, as Carlyle likes to call his coven. She learned that the Cullen's have a vegetarian lifestyle and that they not feed of humans like we do."

At this point, Aro noticed that Isabella started to wince and shake her shoulders in a shudder. He also was sure, he could hear Marcus chuckle and snort at her reaction. Normally, it would be Caius who would snarl at the human right now and be impatient to get to the matter of the visit .Aro made another mental note to question Marcus later on his very odd behavior.

He encouragely nodded toward Garret to go on with his story.

"Bella was under the impression, that Edward would change her and would make her his mate." Garret mumbled and sort of growled the word mate ,while everyone in the room could notice, how his grip on the girl had tightened. Aro smiled at this.

"But Edward, had no intention of changing the girl, Garret stated "instead he lured her into the woods one day and told her, that he and his coven would leave and that she could had to be left behind." Edward also told ,her that he never loved her and that she was not good enough for him. After that, he left her alone in the woods."

Aro could hear gasp´s again and he saw that some of the guards where shaking their heads.

That´s when he heard Marcus raspy voice again." Ahw, little red riding hood obviously forgot to pack her compass before she went into the woods with the big bad wolf."

This was exactly the moment when all hell broke loose in the throne room..

Garret,who let out a loud and angry roar was all over sudden in a crouched fighting stance in front of Marcus. Marcus on the other hand, was on his feet in a flash and mimicked Garrets stance. He looked feral, with his teeth barred and was letting out a loud roar that shattered the panels in the glass dome of the room.

Aro who looked toward Caius,saw that he was leaning over in his chair ,an expression of amusement and excitement in his face. He obviously enjoyed the first signs of live and interest coming from his brother after almost thousands of years of stillness .

And for a moment, even Aro was tempted to let those two vampires fight. But then ,he knew very well that Garret would not stand a chance against his brothers fighting skills and Aro also wanted to hear the rest of Garrets story. So he reluctantly walked in-between the two opponents and put his hand on Marcus shoulder to calm him down. The irony of the moment was not lost on him and he smiled while he simultaneously could hear Caius´s disappointed sigh.

"Brother, I suppose you know why this young man here is angry at you? he asked Marcus but by turning slitely looked straight into Garrets eyes.

Marcus was still crouched in front of Garret but his shoulders relaxed a little, and he shook his head in anger. "I have no idea Aro, you tell me! Might it be ,because I pointed out to him ,that his future mate is naïve and whiny?" Marcus asked and a wicked smile appeared on his face. Garret growls got louder again and it looked like he was ready to pounce on Marcus.

A sudden flash of black and red appeard in front of Garret and in the next second he was flying in mid air landing in front of Felix and crashing the marble floor upon impact.

Caius who was busy straitening his cloak and scarf gave Marcus an apologetic glance "Sorry brother, but you know ,give me a temptation and I will take it. Damn the consequences. Everyone here knows I don´t have too much patience and this whole human/vampire quarrel is annoying". With those words, Caius returned to his throne but not without throwing Garret a last taunting smile, almost bagging him to answer the blow. But Garret knew better than to pick up a fight with Caius and relented to cleaning of his clothes while Bella was rushing toward him snuggling her head into his chest.

Marcus who straitened up to his full imposing height , did not show any emotions about the whole encounter. But Aro thought he could detect the tiniest twitch of Marcus lips, morphing into an almost smile. But then , Marcus eyes took the familiar vacant look again and he walked toward his overturned chair that one of the guards hastily picked up of the floor. Marcus, who slumped down on his chair remained his solem expressionless face and stared at the floor again.

Aro , who was finally getting tired of the whole spectacle motioned Felix to bring Garret over to him, so that he cold read the rest of the story right out of Garrets mind. After the passing of a few minutes he had all the information he needed and with a wave of his hands motioning some guards he is dismissed Garret and Isabella to the guest chambers.

Aro sighed and turned around to look at his brothers. "Caius, Marcus I believe,we have some issues that we have to adress today. Let´s convene to my office, shall we?!"

And with that ,the brothers followed Aro out of the throne room to his office. And Aro who still is pondering the same question like Alec at the tower later, is asking himself "What's wrong with Marcus?"